Methods and devices utilizing a tracking system

ABSTRACT

A method and system which tracks productivity including summarization of “tasks performed” for productivity analysis. The tracking capabilities of the system uses a positioning system and includes a complete reconstruction (graphically if desired by overlaying the positional movements on a 2 or 3 dimensional map of the location) of a series of movements over a period of time. The system gathers the exact time and position information of an employee over a period of each work day and the task being worked on at any given moment of time. This data can be analyzed to determine, for example, non-productive movements, and provide a better foundation of information for productivity payroll including the relative “difficulty” of a task.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/563,265 filed on Nov. 27,1995 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,226,622, naming Alan J. Dabbiere as inventor.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to devices and methods for trackingmovement of moving objects such as people and equipment to track anddetermine productivity in a warehouse or the like, employing globalpositioning system (GPS). The present invention also relates to adevices and methods of tracking the activities (such as assigned tasks)of people to track and determine productivity in a warehouse or thelike, employing a GPS. The present invention also relates to devices andmethods of providing improved security and/or visitor tracking.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

People normally perform specific tasks as directed by supervisorpersonnel in a warehouse setting. In a more modem warehouse, such tasksare computer-generated. Productivity, especially employee productivityis determined by analyzing the tasks performed over time. There arelimitations to the various aspects of these methods. There is a greatneed for a way to obtain precise information regarding movement,activity and current location of individuals and/or equipment andutilize such information to improve the warehouse efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The system of the present invention will gather exact time, activity andposition information of an employee over a period of each work day andthe task being worked on at that moment. These data can be analyzed todetermine, for example, non-productive movements, and provide a betterfoundation of information for productivity payroll including therelative ‘difficulty’ of a task.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a methodto track movement and activity of objects and individuals to analyzemethods for improvement and creation of improved methods resulting fromthis tracking. It is a further object of the present invention toprovide a method to graphically recreate position and activity over aperiod of time (in faster or slower than actual time) for analysis andreview purposes. It is still a further object of the present inventionto provide a method to track equipment movement to better determinerepair/maintenance intervals. It is still a further object of thepresent invention to provide a method to use such data to perform moresophisticated incentive pay capabilities in an incentive payenvironment. It is still a further object of the present invention toprovide a method to use such data to provide improved security andsafety policies and the like and to track and enforce such policies.

The method of tracking movement of a moving object to track anddetermine productivity of the present invention comprises the steps of:receiving a current position of said object via a global positioningsystem (GPS) signal; obtaining data including the current position andactivity of the object; repeating the receiving and obtaining steps fora period of time to create positional movements and the activities forthe period of time; overlaying the positional movements and theactivities on a two or three dimensional map for the period of time;analyzing the positional movements and the activities of the map for theperiod of time; and determining the productivity of the object from theanalyzed positional movements and the activities.

The method of the present invention includes the steps of: determiningdifficulty of the activities from the analyzed activities; anddetermining pay incentives. Additionally, the method includesdetermining non-productive movements and assigning the object to a nexttask based on the current position.

The method of the present invention further includes the steps of:learning a best method of performing the activities in an operation; andcreating a computer simulation model identifying or predicting the bestmethod based on a past performance of the operation.

The system of tracking movement of moving objects of the presentinvention includes: a plurality of devices, each device being associatedwith a respective moving object and adapted to receive a currentposition via a global positioning system (GPS) signal and transmit dataincluding the current position and an activity of the object; and a hostcomputer obtaining the data for a period of time to create positionalmovements and activities of the object for the period of time andoverlaying the positional movements and the activities on a two or threedimensional map for the period of time for the basis of determining theproductivity of the object from the positional movements and theactivities.

The devices are selected from the set of a portable data terminal and abadge wherein the portable data terminal and the badge comprise: a radiofrequency transmitter to transmit the data; and, a global positioningsystem (GPS) receiver.

The system of the present invention further includes: means for learninga best method of performing the activities in an operation; and meansfor creating a computer simulation model identifying or predicting abest method based on a past performance of the operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the system of the present invention including aportable data terminal.

FIG. 2 illustrates the system of the present invention including asecurity badge.

FIG. 3 illustrates the method of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIG. 3, the current ability to track productivityincludes summarization of ‘tasks performed’ for productivity analysis(Step 108). With the improved tracking capabilities provided using aglobal positioning system (hereinafter ‘GPS’), a complete reconstruction(graphically if desired by overlaying the positional movements on a 2 or3 dimensional map of the location) of a series movements over a periodof time can be analyzed (Step 106).

Referring also to FIG. 1, the system 10 of the present invention willgather exact time and position information of an employee over a periodof each work day and the task being worked on at any given moment oftime (Step 102). These data can be analyzed to determine, for example,non-productive movements, and provide a better foundation of informationfor productivity payroll including the relative ‘difficulty’ of a task(Step 122). It is envisioned that this method 100 can be used in awarehouse, office or any location where there is a need to determineinformation such as productivity of an individual or equipment (Step108). It is further envisioned that such a method 100 can be used totrack the identity and location of visitors and/or employees around aparticular site.

In addition to the analysis of this information for productivitytracking and methods analysis, this information could be used forsecurity tracking (Step 112) if the individual is entering areas of thebuilding that are not required to fulfill the requirements of the tasksassigned, or if safety issues arise.

The system 10 can be integrated into a neural network of informationthat could ‘learn’ the best methods of performing tasks to createcomputer simulation models that identify or predict better operations bycollecting and analyzing a stream of data regarding past performance.

This method 100 has the ability to track the movement of objects andindividuals to analyze methods for improvement and creation of improvedmethods and to graphically recreate position and activity over a periodof time (in faster or slower than actual time) for analysis and reviewpurposes (Step 104). This method 100 also provides the ability to trackequipment movement to better determine repair/maintenance intervals(Step 116) and to use data to perform more sophisticated incentive paycapabilities (Step 120) in an incentive pay environment. This method 100also provides the ability to analyze movement data for security, safety,and adherence to policy purposes (Step 118) and to constantly monitorthe current position of equipment and employees in the warehouse toprovide a better source of data for assignment of each next task to theequipment/employee in an automated warehouse environment where thewarehouse management system assigns each task to each employee (Step110).

The proposed device integrates the devices and the functionalities of abasic portable data terminal 18 (radio frequency or batch mode) and aGPS location identification system 16.

The portable data terminal 18 functions typically include datacollection through key entry 26 or an integrated bar coding scanner 28,execute programs through the use of an internal CPU 24, store datathrough internal computer memory 22 and/or disk storage, exportcollected data, and execute/transmit data from an external computerthrough radio-frequency communications via transmitter 20. Suitableexamples of handheld devices incorporating these functions are fullydescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,189 to Kumar et al., issued Nov. 4,1986, which is incorporated herein by reference.

The combined device would have the standard capabilities to directemployees to tasks, and collect and transmit data to a host computer 14,or act as a computer terminal for programs executing on the host andwould in addition transmit position data to the host computer 14 atspecific time intervals.

This improvement of the existing capability of the devices is that theconstant information of location of the device would be used by the hostcomputer 14 to provide better employee tracking capabilities, andassignment of tasks to the individual which is not currently possible.

Referring now to FIG. 2, device 40 integrates any standardemployee/visitor security badge 42 with a GPS location sensor 46 andtransmitter 50 or data collection device. The purpose of device 40 is toprovide better tracking and security enforcement (Step 114)capabilities. Current existing system relies on door locks and visualrestrictions. The device 40 would collect data that would provide for acomplete tracking means and a historic record of the traveled locations.

It is envisioned that an employee will wear (or carry) a device 40 thatcontains a GPS sensor 46 that will track the latitude, longitude andaltitude of the individual, and that this device 40 will have thecapacity to either store the collected data, or transmit the data (via,for example, radio frequency) to a host computer 14 that will collectand store the data. Once the data has been collected, it will beanalyzed by a separate process to achieve the desired objective such asthose described above.

1. A method of tracking movement of a moving object to track anddetermine productivity comprising the steps of: receiving a currentposition comprising longitude, latitude, and altitude of said object;obtaining data including the current position and activity of saidobject; repeating the receiving and obtaining steps for a period of timeto create positional movements and the activities for said period oftime; overlaying the positional movements and the activities on a two orthree-dimensional map for said period of time; analyzing the positionalmovements and the activities of said map for said period of time; anddetermining the productivity of said object from the analyzed positionalmovements and the activities.
 2. A method according to claim 1 whereinsaid object is comprised of an employee, equipment or vehicle.
 3. Amethod according to claim 2 wherein: said data further includes timeinformation and identification of said object.
 4. A method according toclaim 3 wherein said period of time is for a work day.
 5. A methodaccording to claim 4 wherein: the overlaying step further comprises thestep of: recreating said positional movements of said object; and thedetermining step of further comprises the step of: determiningproductivity from the recreated movements.
 6. A method according toclaim 5 further comprising the steps of: security tracking of saidobject to determine whether during the activity said individual enters anon-required area; identifying security policies; and enforcing saidpolicies.
 7. A method according to claim 2 further comprising the stepsof: determining repair/maintenance intervals of said equipment or saidvehicle.
 8. A method according to claim 1 further comprising the stepsof: determining difficulty of the activities from the analyzedactivities; and determining pay incentives.
 9. A method according toclaim 1 wherein the determining step further comprises the step of:determining non-productive movements.
 10. A method according to claim 1further comprising the steps of: assigning said object to a next taskbased on said current position.
 11. A system configured to perform themethod of claim
 1. 12. A system for tracking movement of moving objectscomprising: a plurality of devices, each device being associated with arespective moving object the object comprising an employee, equipment ora vehicle, and adapted to receive a current position via a globalpositioning system (GPS) signal and transmit data including the currentposition and an activity of the object, further, the devices artselected from the set of a portable data terminal and a badge whereinsaid portable data terminal and said badge comprise a radio frequencytransmitter to transmit the date and a positioning system receiver; anda host computer obtaining the data for a period of time to createpositional movements and activities of said object for said period oftime and overlaying the positional movements and the activities on a twoor three dimensional map for said period of time for the basis ofdetermining the productivity of said object from the positionalmovements and the activities.
 13. The system according to claim 12wherein: said data further includes time information and identificationof said object.
 14. The system according to claim 13 wherein said periodof time is for a work day.